Roses and Thorns
by Junebugger
Summary: Riku and Risa have found Dark out! Daisuke is even unluckier. To top things off, a strange new girl is running around town.
1. Activation

Roses and Thorns

Chapter One: Activation

That morning:

"At nine o'clock, I will steal the statue _Roses and Thorns_. ---Dark," the guard read. He stared at the note for a moment, and then rushed off. "Boss! I've found something!

Later:

Fourteen- year- old Risa Harada slipped into the circular room. She flashed her visitor card at the guard and he nodded. _Hmmm…where to start first?_ She looked around at the twenty- something statues lining the wall. One was surrounded by security guards. _That must be Roses and Thorns_. Casually, she walked toward it.

"Ma'am, you can't go there. Phantom Thief Dark is supposed to take it tonight." A young guard touched her shoulder.

As if I didn't know already, Risa thought angrily. She glanced around, and then pointed at a random statue.

"Eeek! Snake! It's crawling up that statue!"

In the confusion that followed, Risa crawled into the small space between _Roses and Thorns_ and the wall.

"I can't wait until nine o'clock!" She settled down to wait for her beloved phantom thief.

A few blocks away:

Riku, Risa's twin sister, rang the doorbell.

"Yes?' A woman answered.

"I'm Ri-"

"Oh!" The woman grabbed her and pulled her inside. "You must be Riku! Little Daisuke has been telling us all about you! Come, come." The woman ran off, leaving Riku behind. _She must be Daisuke's mother. Weird_, Riku thought. She ran a hand through her short hair then smoothed her skirt. Taking a deep breath, she followed the path Daisuke's mom took.

Riku entered the sitting room. Daisuke's mom was pouring tea and speaking to an old man sitting on the sofa.

"Papa, Daisuke's girlfriend is here. We'll have to entertain her until he gets back."

Riku blushed, then paused midstep. _Wait, did she say, "Until he gets back?" He said he wanted me to help with his book report. And why is he out so late?** Where is he?**_

"Um, Mrs. Niwa, is Daisuke gone?" Riku asked. Two heads turned toward her.

"Oops." Daisuke's mom gulped. Riku's eyes bulged.

"Where is-"

Daisuke's grandfather leapt in. "He's at the museum, waiting for Dark."

Before either of the Niwas could stop her, Riku sprang up and ran for the door. The old man frowned thoughtfully, and then turned to his daughter.

"Emiko, did you disengage the front door trap?"

Emiko's hand flew to her mouth. "No…uh oh."

"YEAHHHHHHH!" They heard a scream from the front door.

Much later, at the museum:

"Arghhh…when is he coming?" Risa yawned. "I wish I had brought something to do…" She moaned, and then promptly fell asleep.

8:59, after Riku finally got out of the stupid trap and arrived at the museum:

A dark winged figure appeared on the museum's roof.

"Oh, Dark!" Hundreds of woman swooned. Riku stepped out of the way of the fainting women and glared around her. Suddenly, she spotted Daisuke's spiky red hair heading into the museum. She followed.

Up on the roof, Dark and Daisuke saw Riku following Daisuke-formed Wiz.

/Oh no! Dark, we have to go get her/

"Are you kidding me? We have a statue to steal!"

/Come on, Dark. This is Ri-/

"Hey, Dai, shut up. You don't want me transforming before all these people, right?"

/Errr…/

The city clock struck nine. As soon as it rang, Dark turned and vanished.

In the museum's hall:

Riku hurried behind Wiz/Daisuke. "Hey, Daisuke, what are you doing here?"

Wiz turned around and freaked out. He took off running.

"Aiee! Wait, Dai! What are you doing? Are you looking for-" They burst into a circular room.

The first thing Riku saw was the statue. "Roses and Thorns," she whispered. A lovely maiden stared down at her arrogantly. Although she was exquisitely beautiful, there was a very evil aura about her. Riku could barely tear her eyes away. Then her eyes fell to the foot of the statue. About thirty stunned guards were lying on the ground. She paled. Then someone spoke.

"Riku?" She looked up and screamed.

"Oh my gosh, Daisuke, WHY ARE YOU HIDING BEHIND THAT PERVERT!"

Wiz/Daisuke was crouching behind Dark, desperately trying to hide. Dark was staring, stunned, at Riku, with one hand on the statue. "Riku?" he said, again.

Behind the statue, Risa's eyes fluttered. She shook her head, and then saw Wiz/Daisuke.

"Dai?" She grabbed his foot.

Poor Wiz. This last shock caused him to faint, and he turned back into his rabbit-thingy form. Risa yelped and withdrew her hand.

Inside Dark's mind, Daisuke groaned. /Risa./

"And Riku…"

/No, Dark/

"I'm sorry, Daisuke."

Before Risa and Riku's eyes, Dark transformed back into Daisuke. He fell away from the statue. Risa leapt to her feet and stared. Silence.

In an attempt to recover, Daisuke smiled weakly.

"Um…hi. Uh…what's up?"

Dark groaned and slapped his forehead. /Daisuke, you're hopeless./

The twins finally found their tongues.

"Dark! You are Daisuke?" Risa couldn't believe that she had been in love with such an ordinary guy.

"Daisuke, you are that pervert Dark?" Riku didn't think her classmate could be a thief.

From above, a new voice sounded, "Daisuke, I see that the girls have uncovered your secret. What are you going to do? Wipe their memories? Well, it doesn't matter since you won't exist soon!"

"Krad?" Daisuke managed to twist around just before a magical explosion hit him. Smoke filled the room. As it touched _Roses and Thorns_, the statue seemed to breathe the magic in. It blinked. It slowly moved its head from side to side. Then it lifted a stiff hand and flexed its fingers.

"I…am…alive…"

Dark felt a strangeand strong magic in the room, but ignored it. He had more urgent matters to attend to. /Daisuke! Are you okay/

"Argh!"

/I'll take that as a no. Here, let me take over./

Krad pinned Daisuke-in-the-middle-of-transformation to the wall. By the statue, the twins struggled to breathe in the thick smoke.

"Riku, where are you?"

"Stay put! The smoke will clear eventually. Just don't move."

"Okay, Sis!"

Krad wove a magical shield around Dark.

"So, Daisuke…no, Dark." For some reason, Krad seemed flustered.

"Yeah, I'm Dark now. Got a problem with that?"

"No." In Krad's hand a blue-white flame appeared. Dark started and the shield crackled. "You wouldn't."

"I would." Krad brought the flame closer. "Use your magic, Dark, or else your tamer and you die."

"Luckily for Dark and Daisuke, the flame cleared the smoke. As soon as Risa could see Krad, she threw herself at him.

"Don't you DARE hurt Dark!" she screeched as she pulled at his hair. Not to be outdone, Riku joined her and yanked out a handful of feathers. Startled, Krad stepped back…

into an ancient stained glass window…

which broke…

and he fell.

Below, someone pointed up. "Look! A white Dark!" Just then, Krad looked down, and hundreds of cameras got a good shot at his face. He spread his wings and flew back through the window.

Dark, Risa, Riku, and the statue were gone. Instead, there was a single black feather where Roses and Thorns had stood. Krad scooped it up and twirled it between his fingers.

"Daisuke and Dark," he whispered. "Daisuke and Dark."


	2. Help?

Thanks for the reviews! I know, this is really late. Please forgive me. Anyways, here is:

Roses and Thorns

Chapter Two: Help?

On the way to school the next morning:

/Daisuke! Please/

"No! You cannot take over!"

/This is for a good cause! We must wipe their memories or else/

"Oh, and what are you going to do before and after? Again, NO!" Daisuke groaned as Dark started ranting again. The sound of running feet temporarily distracted them both.

Riku grabbed Dai's right arm and Risa took over his left arm. They glared at each other through him. Daisuke sighed.

/This is our chance! Hurry, Dai/

"No!" Risa and Riku both stared at him, then blushed. They loosened their holds. Unwittingly, Daisuke had shouted out loud. Nearby, a disguised Satoshi peered at them through thick sunglasses. He had wanted to apologized for Krad's bad behaviour and spend some time alone with Daisuke, but it seemed like he will have to rescue him first. Satoshi strode toward the trio.

"Excuse me, can I talk with you, Mr Niwa?" He tried to make his voice as unSatoshi-like as possible; Risa and Riku shouldn't know who he is, since he had quit school several months ago.

Daisuke smiled brightly, relieved to get away from the twins. "Sure!" Inside his head, Dark loudly moaned. /No, no, you idiot! That's Hikari, can't you tell? And Risa and Riku and...HEY! LISTEN UP! (expletive)! Daisuke, you little (expletive) brat/

He was still ignored by Daisuke.

Satoshi and Daisuke left the twins and headed up to the roof of a flat-topped building where only a few people hung out. Satoshi stopped at the railing and leaned over. Worriedly, Daisuke told him,"You might fall."

"And if I fall, either you, Dark, or Krad will save me."

Only Daisuke agreed. The two alter egos grimaced and made faces at their tamers. Or at least Dark did.

Satoshi took a deep breath. He had stayed up late preparing a grand speech about how he couldn't control Krad, and how sorry he was Daisuke was almost killed, but instead, something below caught his eye.

"Look, Daisuke." He pointed at a group of girls. Daisuke peered over the railing. They were his classmates, but all seemed to be centered around one girl. She had silver hair, and from even that far away, Daisuke could tell she was very pretty. No, she was beautiful. No, she was even more than that, she was gorgeous, dazzling, stunning, with her long hair rippling down her slender shoulders and...

"AHHHHH!" Daisuke was leaning so far out, he lost his balance and pitched over the railing. _Oh, no, I can't save myself, Satoshi is there, and besides, everyone is staring at me...hey, maybe Satoshi will save me again, like he did all those other times..._

But Satoshi had grabbed for Daisuke's leg, but Krad had chosen that precious second to start yelling really loudly. There was nothing for him to do but to stand there and watch his...friend?...fall.

Down below:

The girl had appeared from nowhere, and started tagging along witha bunch ofgirls. At first she had seemed plain, then unusual, then interesting, then suddenly very very popular. Nearly all the conversations had her in the middle of it, and the girls found themselves waiting on her hand and foot, fawning over her and coming very close to kissing the ground she stepped on. They felt that there was something wrong, but the stranger was just so amazing...

Then Daisuke had started falling, and everyone had started screaming. But the girl stepped calmly under the falling boy, and lifted her hands to the sky. Everyone winced as the red-haired boy fell onto the pale and slim girl. Someone called 911.

"A boy just fell from a seven story building...oh my gosh! A girl was down there and he landed on her! Hurry, it's very close to the middle school...OH MY GOSH THEY ARE ALIVE!"

At that, the person and the operator both dropped their phones.

On the sidewalk:

Daisuke blinked. He felt as if he had just landed in a pile of soft goose-down pillows. _Am I dead?_ he wondered.

/No..I don't think we are. Or else, I would be back in my own world, waiting for another more suitable Niwa to come along. Unlike you, such a klutz to fall off a building./

Daisuke grinned. Dark was as... Dark-like as he ever was. Somehow that was oddly comforting. He put a hand down to feel below him and felt something soft.

"Excuse me?" A cool voice floated upward. Daisuke glanced down, then jerked his hand up when he realized what he was doing. His face burned.

"Er...erm..."

"And, will you please get off of me?"

"Uh, sure." Daisuke carefully stood up, then turned back to the girl he had landed on. He gallantly held out his hand to help her up, but she gazed disgustedly at it, then gracefully got up herself. An ambulance came screaming around the corner, and halted right in front of them. A doctor jumped out and rushed toward them.

"Are you hurt? Any bruises? Any soreness, concussions, broken bones? Are you feeling..."

As Daisuke answered question after question after question, he realized that he had just fallen off a very tall building and almost squashed someone, yet emerged unscathed. He gulped and turned to Dark.

"Dark, did you do something?"

/Nope./

"What...?" Daisuke was close to panicking. The docter looked at Daisuke oddly and asked him again if he was ok. Daisuke nodded, then turned back to Dark.

"WHAT HAPPENED?"

/That girl.../

Then, Dark started meditating about something and refused to reply.

Then, the reporters came and made him do all these stupid poses for the camera.

Then, his mom came and started fussing---in public!---all over him. The reporters had a great time taking pictures of her hugging him and patting his head.

THEN, Risa and Riku came and introduced themselves to the reporters as his "girlfriends."

Daisuke got all the attention, while the strange girl managed to slip away unnoticed. _Lucky_, Daisuke thought.

Altogether, it was a terrible morning.


End file.
